Facebookers from Syracuse will be on alert for the next free meal. Try Arby's, on Sunday

Kiichiro Sato / AP In this April 24, 2008 file photo, an Arby's restaurant sign is seen in Columbus, Ohio. Deep discounts by competitors lured hungry diners away from Arby's in the fourth quarter and contributed to a loss for Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., the company said Monday.

Syracuse, NY -- Desperate times call for desperate measures. For retailers, "desperate" = free. As in giveaways. For several restaurant chains, the latest, hottest ploy is to give away product to get customers in the tent. Arby's is at it on Sunday -- for its Facebook friends, anyway. Here...

From Nation's Restaurant News:

Arby's Promos Roastburger With Giveaway

ATLANTA -- Arby's is promoting its Roastburger line of three sliced-beef sandwiches with an offer on Facebook.com to try the new menu item for free Sunday.

The 3,756-unit chain is distributing on Facebook a coupon for a free Roastburger with the purchase of a soft drink on March 8. The Roastburger is regularly priced in several markets at $3.59 for the sandwich and $5.59 in a combo meal with a drink and fries.

Arby's began widely selling the Roastburgers on Feb. 17 and kicked off national advertising for the new sandwiches on Sunday, a spokeswoman said.

The three Roastburger varieties all come with Arby's oven-roasted sliced beef, lettuce, tomato and onion on a specialty roll. The All-American Roastburger also includes ketchup, mustard and a secret sauce; the Bacon and Bleu Cheese comes with pepper bacon and blue cheese spread; and Bacon Cheddar is made with pepper bacon and cheddar cheese.

In this case, free isn't entirely free. You still have to buy the soft drink (high profit margins there), but hey, it's a free sandwich.

In recent weeks, Denny's and IHOP made a similar move, and expect more restaurant chains to sign on to this "free" movement as long as the economic downtimes -- the Decession, I'm calling it -- continue to worsen.

On to...

You:

* Nedrow42 comments, "Am I the only one shocked not to see the DeWitt Kmart on the chopping block? That place is an understaffed disaster area every time I'm in there. The last time I was there, I was surprised not to see any shelving units completely knocked over. There may have been a grand total of a dozen customers in the store, but that was still easily twice as many customers as employees.And good luck finding a cashier, for that matter...''

Again, this week's announcement by SearsMart re closing stores is likely just the beginning. They left a lot of wiggle room in that announcement.

* CuseFan685 comments, "On the topic of the Dinosaur, The Dino restaurants were sold sometime late last year (I think) to a group of investors that are planning to open more restaurants in the north east. They are opening a restaurant in Troy, N.Y., and also as previously mentioned Boston area as well as West Haven, Conn., with more to follow. I am not sure how the deal all shook out with different products they market (i.e. sauces and cookbooks). I think it was just the restaurants that sold, but I know for sure they have been purchased."

Dino co-founder John Stage told me last year that the restaurants indeed had a new group of investors, but they weren't sold. And he's still very much deeply involved. Stage wouldn't identify the investors.

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